20 miles north of Ketchum Route 75 opens up into a beautiful, wide valley. The road follows the west side, the Big Wood River is on the east side, and along here there is a big, flat open area in between, with good-ish gravel roads over to the edge of the river where many dispersed campsites are set up. Pretty cool! This is the same river that flows through Ketchum and Sun Valley.
I had an initial bad impression because not only do I not get a shower for $24, I don't even get a flush toilet! There is water for RV hookup, but no indoor plumbing, just a clean, unisex outhouse. The lady makes the very good point that everyone is here for the hot springs, and they have showers. On the other hand I am in a nice, grassy, spot a three minute drive (or a long walk) from the Lava Hot Springs pools. So all in all, pretty good. There are some heavily used, long haul train tracks a few hundred yards away that shake the earth a couple of times in the night.
Kinda funky, but cheap and right downtown, awash in University kids
Six pools. The big rectangular one, around to the right in the grotto, is the very hottest - 112°. They get progressively cooler moving left. Next is the biggest and ranges from 110° to 103° according to the sign. Beautiful setting at the opening of a little canyon with the busy highway and railroad tracks right above..
Placid little place in tall firs. Swimming beach on the Priest River, boat ramp, kayak friendly. Road noise is not too bothersome.
Owner was a right-wing lunatic, but the campsite situation was superb, right on the river. Nice laundry room with shower (costs extra!) and tv
Nothing here except a really pretty bend in the (Salmon) river, pretty well shielded from US 93, even though it's 30 yards away. Really pleasant overnight.
Small roadside campground. 2-3 sites are right on the river and awesome. The rest are just sites. Pretty close to Jackson WY.
Co-owned with Banbury Hot Springs. Banbury has better camping, Miracle better pools, so here's how it all shakes out: Banbury: tent sites: $10 | campground: park on the grass next to your picnic table in a pretty spot | soaking: big concrete rectangle pool (see their Spot entry) Miracle: must pay for hookups: $20 | campground: dusty and shabby | soaking: wonderful set of modern, interesting pools - a really hot one under the sun deck I call the Grotto :), a bigger cooler pool, then a long, skinny, segmented parallel pool that is a hot zone, a cold zone, and a slighter hotter zone. Really nice layout!
Eerie lava beds moonscape. Really cool to have a campground in such a surreal place
The camping area is just a gravel lot right behind the motel, but it's a beautiful setting right next to the creek, less than 100 yards from the hot springs. Small town, everything there is within ½ mile. He gave me a deal since it's Monday night off season.
Strange place - they seem to have charged me $21 to park in their yard. No bathroom, no nothin, just a parking place.
closed for the season, but looked cool. Indoor pool and a couple of outdoor tubs. And a really pleasant looking campground at the northeast corner of Bear Lake. I'll bet it's hoppin' in the summer.
About 25 miles off the road to anywhere, but pretty cool once you're here. I'm here on a cold day in October and it's almost deserted. Bear Lake is beautiful
Very, very basic place. Cable is good, wifi is bad, they don't provide cups. Heater works, It's very handy to park right outside the door. Two miles down US 30 from Lava Hot Springs. The Portneuf River runs right behind it. Very scenic back there.
Nice pullover off Highway 75 east of Stanley. Park and walk down to a little 2 person pool by the Salmon River. No shade, so you'll need a sun-blocking plan in the middle of the day.
modest little spot right off the road, right on the river
A great little find on US 20 east of Craters of the Moon. Just a nice field with picnic tables and a a few trees on the edges. No services of any kind that I can see - "pack it in pack it out". They're just giving the fishermen a nice place to park their campers. Pretty sweet! Update! There IS a pit toilet, and there is a water spigot! But no place to dump trash, which is fine with me. And there is a donation box.
Old, charmingly decrepit place on the Snake River south of Boise. The hot springs is basically a spring-fed indoor swimming pool. It's a nice temperature, especially after you find the 3-4 spots where the hot water comes in. There's a basketball hoop and 20-30 little beachballs floating around, so one can pass the time shooting hoops.
locals pool, basketball hoops in the water, stuff like that. -- -- -- -- Camping here this time. Offseacon it's $15=$5+$10